An end sensing device

Abstract

The present invention discloses an end sensing device, which is mounted on the tip of a fork. The sensing device includes a base assembly, which is mounted on the tip of the fork, and a first travel switch and a rotating shaft are mounted in the base assembly; a sensing body, which is mounted on the front end of the base assembly and can be elastically rotated around the rotating shaft, and the sensing body is wrapped and formed by a side plate along the edge, and the side plate can be elastically moved along the vertical horizontal plane of the rotating shaft, and a second travel switch is also mounted in the sensing body; wherein the contact of the first travel switch senses the rotation response of the sensing body around the rotating shaft, and the contact of the second travel switch senses the movement response of the side plate in the vertical horizontal plane of the rotating shaft. The present invention realizes the ability to identify obstacles during the movement of the forklift by installing the sensing device on the tip of the fork, and effectively improves the safety of the operation process.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention relates to the technical field of mobile carriers, in particular to an end sensing device. Background Art

[0002] When a forklift is picking up, driving, transferring, or stacking goods, the tip of the fork often collides with objects. After the collision, the driver will lose valuable time in making a judgment, which may lead to an accident. When applied to the driving of an unmanned intelligent forklift, this collision will lead to greater safety hazards. Therefore, it is necessary to propose a sensing device that can effectively detect obstacles to improve the safety of the forklift operation process. Summary of the invention

[0003] The object of the present invention is to provide an end sensing device to solve the problems raised in the above background technology.

[0004] To achieve the above object, the present invention provides the following technical solution: an end sensing device, the sensing device is mounted on the tip of the fork, and the sensing device comprises:

[0005] A base assembly, the base assembly is mounted on the tip of the fork, and a first travel switch and a rotating shaft are mounted in the base assembly;

[0006] The induction body is installed at the front end of the base assembly and can be elastically rotated around the rotation axis. The induction body is wrapped and formed by the side plate along the edge. The side plate can be elastically moved along the vertical and horizontal planes of the rotation axis. A second travel switch is also installed in the induction body;

[0007] Wherein, the contact of the first travel switch senses the rotation response of the sensing body around the rotation axis, and the contact of the second travel switch senses the movement response of the side plate in the vertical horizontal plane of the rotation axis.

[0008] A position sensor is also installed in the induction body, and the position sensor is installed statically relative to the position of the rotating shaft.

[0009] A fixing seat 1 is fixedly connected in the base assembly, and the first travel switch is installed on the upper end surface of the fixing seat 1.

[0010] A second fixing seat is arranged in the induction body, and the rotating shaft passes through the second fixing seat and is rotatably connected to the base assembly at the upper and lower ends of the rotating shaft.

[0011] A telescopic assembly is disposed on each side of the second fixing seat, and the telescopic assembly includes:

[0012] An assembly block, the assembly block is fixedly connected to the side wall of the fixing seat 2, a hole type is opened in the assembly block along the arrangement direction of the sensing device, the hole type is set as a stepped hole, including a hole type 1 located at the front end and a hole type 2 located at the rear end and coaxially connected with the hole type 1, and the diameter of the hole type 1 is larger than that of the hole type 2;

[0013] A guide rod is sleeved with a spring and is inserted into the stepped hole together with the spring. One end of the guide rod is fixed to the inner wall of the side plate through an assembly plate, and the other end is telescopically inserted into the second hole.

[0014] An opening is formed on the front end surface of the side plate, and the sensing end of the position sensor faces the opening and forms a preset distance with the opening.

[0015] The side plate is configured as a U-shaped plate structure, which is formed by symmetrically bending a rectangular plate, an end plate is formed on the front end surface of the side plate, and side wing plates are formed on both sides of the side plate;

[0016] Wherein, when the sensing body is in a natural elastic expansion and contraction state, the end of the side wing plate and the base assembly form a buffer zone of a preset size in the arrangement direction of the sensing device.

[0017] The contact of the second travel switch contacts the end surface of the side wing plate.

[0018] The end of the side wing plate is formed with an inner arc surface located on the inner side surface thereof, and the contact point of the second travel switch contacts the surface at any position of the inner arc surface.

[0019] The sensing device is configured as a square structure, the width of which is greater than or equal to the width of the fork tip.

[0020] It can be seen from the above technical solution that the present invention realizes the ability to identify obstacles during the movement of the forklift by installing a sensing device at the tip of the fork, effectively improving the safety of the operation process, and its beneficial effects are as follows:

[0021] 1: Through the contact of the sensing body, the sensing information can be effectively obtained in the first time when a collision occurs;

[0022] 2: The sensor can distinguish and identify obstacles from the left, right and front directions, effectively improving the recognition efficiency, which is conducive to the operator or the control system to make a more detailed solution for the next control instruction;

[0023] 3: The installed position sensor can effectively improve the displacement accuracy of the fork before or after loading the goods. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0024] Figure 1 It is a schematic diagram of the structure of the present invention;

[0025] Figure 2 It is a schematic diagram of the internal structure of the present invention;

[0026] Figure 3 It is a top view of the internal structure of the present invention;

[0027] Figure 4 It is a side sectional view of the present invention;

[0028] Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram of the connection of the first travel switch of the present invention;

[0029] Figure 6 This is a schematic diagram of the connection of the second travel switch of the present invention;

[0030] Figure 7 It is a schematic diagram of the structure of the present invention assembled on the end of the fork body.

[0031] In the figure: 1 fork body, 2 sensing device, 21 base assembly, 211 upper base plate, 2111 screw, 2112 screw, 212 lower base plate, 2121 screw, 213 buffer zone, 214 connecting plate, 2141 screw, 22 sensing body, 221 side plate, 2211 end plate, 2212 side wing plate, 2213 opening, 2214 assembly plate, 2215 end wing plate, 2216 inner arc surface, 222 protection plate, 2221 notch, 23 sensing assembly 1, 231 fixing seat 1, 23 11 guide groove, 2312 spring 1, 2313 steel ball, 232 first travel switch, 2321 contact, 24 sensing component 2, 241 fixing seat 2, 2411 V-shaped groove, 242 block, 2421 rotating shaft, 243 position sensor, 25 telescopic component, 251 assembly block, 2511 hole type 1, 2512 hole type 2, 2513 waist-shaped hole, 252 guide rod, 2521 end 1, 2522 end 2, 253 spring 2, 254 second travel switch, 2541 contact, 3 pin shaft. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0032] The present invention will be further described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings:

[0033] See also Figure 1-7This case provides an end sensing device, which is used for the fork tip of the fork body 1 to effectively sense feedback when it touches an obstacle or approaches an obstacle, and control the driving state of the vehicle in the first time. This end sensing device is installed at the fork tip, and it can be understood as being arranged in the same length direction as the fork tip, and has an outer contour that is adapted to the fork tip. Generally speaking, the fork tip is a rectangular structure, and the end sensing device can be adaptively set to a rectangular structure but is not limited to this. The front end of its sensing body 22 can also be adaptively set to an arc structure or a spherical structure, etc., but it is worth mentioning that in order to prevent structural interference of the end sensing device, generally speaking, the thickness of the end sensing device is not easy to be greater than the thickness of the fork tip.

[0034] The specific structure of this end sensing device is as follows:

[0035] The end sensing device includes a base assembly 21 and a sensing body 22. The base assembly 21 is installed at the tip of the fork to connect and assemble the sensing body 22 in a transitional manner, so that the sensing body 22 can achieve telescopic movement in the front-to-back direction and small rotation in the left-to-right direction on the base assembly 21. Here, it should be explained that the main principle of this end sensing device is that when the sensing body 22 contacts an obstacle, the first travel switch 232 installed inside it is used to sense the left-to-right rotation of the sensing body 22, and the second travel switch 254 is used to sense the movement of the sensing body 22 in the front-to-back direction.

[0036] The base assembly 21 and the inductor 22 are described in detail below:

[0037] 1. Base assembly 21:

[0038] The base assembly 21 is used to realize the assembly connection of the induction body 22 and sense the partial movement of the induction body 22, and mainly includes a connecting plate 214, an upper base plate 211, a lower base plate 212, and a sensing assembly 23. The sensing assembly 23 includes a first travel switch 232 and a fixing seat 231. The connecting plate 214 is configured to be adapted to the plane contour of the fork tip, and is configured to be a rectangular parallelepiped structure but not limited thereto. It is fixed to the plane of the fork tip by screws 2141 located near both ends. The upper base plate 211 and the lower base plate 212 are square thin plates, which are the same size, and their widths are adapted to the length of the connecting plate 214. They are detachably fixed to the upper and lower end surfaces of the connecting plate 214 by screws 2111. The upper base plate 211 and the lower base plate 212 are parallel to each other after being fixed, and are formed in the same horizontal plane with the upper and lower end surfaces of the fork tip, respectively. The lower base plate 212 is used to provide an assembly plane to realize the assembly of the fixing seat 231. Specifically, the fixing seat 231 is fixed to the rear part of the center of the upper end surface of the lower base plate 212, and a first travel switch 232 is installed in the middle of its upper end surface. The first travel switch 232 is used to cooperate with the rotation position of the sensing body 22 to realize the sensing response of the left and right directions of the sensing device 2.

[0039] 2. Sensor 22:

[0040] The induction body 22 is configured as a cubic structure but is not limited thereto, and is mainly configured to rotate and move forward and backward when it contacts an obstacle, so as to complete the sensing of the first travel switch 232 and the second travel switch 254. Specifically, the induction body 22 includes a side plate 221, a second induction component 24, and a telescopic component 25. The side plate 221 is configured as a U-shaped structure according to the adaptability of the fork tip and the outer contour of the base component 21, but is not limited thereto. It can be understood here that the side plate 221, while playing a protective role, also provides a displacement relationship relative to the internal components, so that it can be captured by the travel switch during the collision displacement process.

[0041] The side plate 221 is bent to form a U-shaped structure, including an end plate 2211 located at the front end and side wing plates 2212 formed at both ends of the end plate 2211 and symmetrically bent, wherein the end plate 2211 functions to achieve collision protection in the front direction and transmit force to achieve the front-to-back displacement of the sensing body 22, and the side wing plates 2212 function to achieve collision protection in the left-right direction and transmit force to achieve the axially recoverable elastic rotation of the sensing body 22 along the rotating shaft 2421.

[0042] The induction component 24 includes a fixing seat 241 and a block 242 fixedly connected to the upper end surface of the fixing seat 241, wherein a rotation shaft 2421 is also provided, and the rotation shaft 2421 penetrates the thickness of the block 242 and the fixing seat 241 and is positioned and connected at both ends through a connecting piece. Specifically, the fixing seat 241 and the block 242 are penetrated with the rotation shaft 2421 in the thickness direction. In practice, when the induction body 22 is assembled in the base component 21, screws 2112 and screws 2121 are respectively provided on the upper base plate 211 and the lower base plate 212 to penetrate the thickness of the base plate and be rotatably connected to the two ends of the rotation shaft 2421. In this way, the induction body 22 is rotatably connected to the base component 21 through the shaft body composed of the rotation shaft 2421, the screws 2112 and the screws 2121. In order to realize the stable rotation of the fixing seat 241 about the axis of the rotating shaft 2421, the fixing seat 241 is provided with a semicircular arc surface at one end close to the fixing seat 1 231, and adapted thereto, the outer side surface of the fixing seat 1 231 which is arranged in close contact therewith is provided with an arc surface groove adapted to the semicircular arc surface, so that the fixing seat 241 can be radially limited by the arc surface groove of the fixing seat 1 231 during the rotation around the rotating shaft 2421, thereby effectively ensuring the stability of the induction body 22 during the rotation process.

[0043] The telescopic components 25 are provided with two and are arranged on both sides of the second fixing seat 241. Specifically, the telescopic components 25 include an assembly block 251 and a guide rod 252. The assembly block 251 is fixed to the side wall of the second fixing seat 241. A hole pattern is provided in the assembly block 251 along the arrangement direction of the sensing device 2. Here, those skilled in the art can understand that the arrangement direction of the sensing device 2 is the length direction of the extension of the fork tip. The hole pattern is set as a stepped hole, including a hole pattern 1 2511 located at the front end and a hole pattern 2 2512 located at the rear end and coaxially connected thereto. The diameter of the hole pattern 1 2511 is larger than the diameter of the hole pattern 2 2512. It should be noted that the diameter layout of the hole type here is used to achieve axial restriction of the spring 253. Specifically, an assembly plate 2214 is provided at the front end of the assembly block 251, and one end of the assembly plate 2214 is fixed to the inner wall of the side wing plate 2212. The guide rod 252 includes a rod body and an end 2521 formed at one end and an end 2522 at the other end, wherein the diameter of the end 2521 is smaller than the hole type 2512 and is smoothly arranged, and the outer circumferential surface of the end 2522 is formed with a threaded surface and is threadedly connected to the assembly plate 2214, so as to achieve the relative position fixation of the guide rod 252 and the side wing plate 2212. Due to the The assembly block 251 is fixedly connected to both sides of the second fixing seat 241, and one end of the guide rod 252 is connected to the side wing plate 2212 through the assembly plate 2214. Therefore, the position of the side plate 221 relative to the second fixing seat 241 is adjustable. When the end plate 2211 is hit by an obstacle in front of it, the side plate 221 moves inward along the axial direction of the guide rod 252 under the action of force, and the displacement change of the side plate 221 is detected by the second travel switch 254. At the same time, after being touched, due to the elastic action of the second spring 253, once the obstacle disappears, the induction body 22 can be elastically moved to the initial position under the elastic action of the second spring 253.

[0044] In order to further explain the use principle of this end sensing device, the installation positions of the first travel switch 232 and the second travel switch 254 are combined and explained separately below.

[0045] First, the first travel switch 232 is installed on the fixing seat 1 231, and the contact 2321 of the first travel switch 232 is against the end face of the block 242. Once the fixing seat 241 rotates, the contact 2321 will sense the change in its position relative to the block 242, thereby determining that the sensing body 22 has rotated in the left and right directions.

[0046] Secondly, the second travel switch 254 is installed on both sides of the fixing seat 241, and its relative position with the fixing seat 241 does not change, and the contact 2541 of the second travel switch 254 abuts against the end of the side wing plate 2212 to sense the change in the relative position of the side wing plate 2212 after the side wing plate 2212 is subjected to the force from the front obstacle. Specifically, the side wing plate 2212 has an end wing plate 2215 at its end, and the end wing plate 2215 has an inner arc surface 2216 formed on the inner side surface, and the contact 2541 abuts against the inner arc surface 2216 in the untriggered state. Once the side plate 221 is touched by an obstacle from the front, the contact 2541 will roll along the inner arc surface 2216 to the inner side surface of the side wing plate 2212, thereby generating induction. It should be noted that, since the side plate 221 needs to leave enough space during the displacement process so that it can be displaced during the axial compression along the guide rod 252, when the end of the side wing plate 2212 is in a natural elastic expansion state, the end and the base assembly 21 form a buffer zone 213 of a preset size in the arrangement direction of the sensing device 2.

[0047] In one embodiment, in order to prevent the second fixing seat 241 from rotating arbitrarily around the rotation axis 2421, a guide groove 2311 is provided in the first fixing seat 231, and the opening direction of the guide groove 2311 points to the center of the semicircular arc surface of the second fixing seat 241, and adapted thereto, a V-shaped groove 2411 is also provided in the center of the semicircular arc surface of the second fixing seat 241 along its vertical direction, a steel ball 2313 is provided in the V-shaped groove 2411, and a spring 2312 is provided in the guide groove 2311, and the spring 2312 compresses the steel ball 2313 against the In the V-shaped groove 2411, half of the volume of the steel ball 2313 is located in the guide groove 2311, and the other half of the volume is located in the V-shaped groove 2411. In a normal state, the fixed seat 241 remains stable under the action of the spring 1 2312. When subjected to left and right forces, the fixed seat 241 overcomes the radial force applied by the spring 1 2312 and rotates and deviates, thereby triggering the first travel switch 232. In addition, since the steel ball 2313 is limited in the V-shaped groove 2411, it is also achieved that the induction body 22 is installed at the front end of the base assembly 21 and can be elastically rotated around the rotating shaft 2421 in a recoverable manner.

[0048] In another embodiment, a position sensor 243 is further installed at the front end of the second fixing seat, and adapted thereto, an opening 2213 is provided on the end plate 2211. The position sensor 243 is used to sense the current position of the sensing device 2 and can move the tip of the fork to a precise position under the control of the vehicle.

[0049] In another embodiment, a pin shaft 3 is installed on the side wing plate 2212, and adapted thereto, a waist-shaped hole 2513 is opened on one side of the assembly block 251 close to the side wing plate 2212. The pin shaft 3 penetrates the thickness of the side wing plate 2212 and is inserted into the waist-shaped hole 2513 at the inner end. The waist-shaped hole 2513 is opened along the length direction of the assembly block 251 and has a preset length. The waist-shaped hole 2513 and the pin shaft 3 are clearance-matched. In this way, when the induction body 22 is displaced forward and backward, stable movement can be achieved and a limiting effect can be achieved by adapting the pin shaft 3 to the waist-shaped hole 2513.

[0050] The embodiments described above are merely descriptions of preferred implementation modes of the present invention and are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention. Without departing from the design spirit of the present invention, various modifications and improvements made to the technical solutions of the present invention by ordinary technicians in this field should all fall within the protection scope determined by the claims of the present invention.

Claims

1. An end sensing device, characterized in that: The sensing device is mounted on the tip of the fork, and the sensing device comprises: A base assembly, the base assembly is mounted on the tip of the fork, and a first travel switch and a rotating shaft are mounted in the base assembly; The induction body is installed at the front end of the base assembly and can be elastically rotated around the rotation axis. The induction body is wrapped and formed by the side plate along the edge. The side plate can be elastically moved along the vertical and horizontal planes of the rotation axis. A second travel switch is also installed in the induction body; Wherein, the contact of the first travel switch senses the rotation response of the induction body around the rotation axis, and the contact of the second travel switch senses the movement response of the side plate in the vertical horizontal plane of the rotation axis; The induction body is provided with a second fixing seat, the rotating shaft is passed through the second fixing seat and is rotatably connected to the base assembly at the upper and lower ends of the rotating shaft; a telescopic assembly is respectively provided on both sides of the second fixing seat, and the telescopic assembly includes: An assembly block, the assembly block is fixedly connected to the side wall of the fixing seat 2, a hole type is opened in the assembly block along the arrangement direction of the sensing device, the hole type is set as a stepped hole, including a hole type 1 located at the front end and a hole type 2 located at the rear end and coaxially connected with the hole type 1, and the diameter of the hole type 1 is larger than that of the hole type 2; A guide rod, wherein a spring is sleeved on the guide rod and the guide rod is inserted into the stepped hole together with the spring, one end of the guide rod is fixed to the inner wall of the side plate through an assembly plate, and the other end is telescopically inserted into the second hole; The side panel is configured as a U-shaped panel structure, which is symmetrically bent from a rectangular panel, with an end panel formed on the front end surface of the side panel and side wing panels formed on both sides of the side panel; wherein, when the induction body is in a natural elastic expansion and contraction state, the end of the side wing panel and the base assembly form a buffer zone of a preset size in the arrangement direction of the induction device.

2. An end sensing device according to claim 1, characterized in that: A position sensor is also installed in the induction body, and the position sensor is installed statically relative to the position of the rotating shaft.

3. An end sensing device according to claim 1, characterized in that: A fixing seat 1 is fixedly connected in the base assembly, and the first travel switch is installed on the upper end surface of the fixing seat 1.

4. An end sensing device according to claim 2, characterized in that: An opening is formed on the front end surface of the side plate, and the sensing end of the position sensor faces the opening and forms a preset distance with the opening.

5. The end sensing device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The contact of the second travel switch contacts the end surface of the side wing plate.

6. An end sensing device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The end of the side wing plate is formed with an inner arc surface located on the inner side surface thereof, and the contact point of the second travel switch contacts the surface at any position of the inner arc surface.

7. An end sensing device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The sensing device is configured as a square structure, the width of which is greater than or equal to the width of the fork tip.

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